300: Rise of An Empire has debuted in the number one spot at the US box office.
The Noam Murro-directed sequel – starring Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Eva Green and Rodrigo Santoro – took $45m on its first weekend.
300: Rise of An Empire is a follow-up to 2006 movie 300, which starred Gerard Butler, Michael Fassbender, Heady and Santoro.
The animated movie Mr Peabody & Sherman debuted in second place with $32.5m.
The two new releases knocked Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop off the number one spot. Non-Stop slipped to third place with $15.3m, earning a total of $52.1m.
The thriller is followed by The Lego Movie in fourth place with $11m, with a total gross of $224.9m. The computer generated film is the first of 2014 to pass $200m at the box office.
The biblical movie Son of God slipped from second place to fifth place on its second week with $10m. Its total gross is now $41.4m.
12 Years a Slave made an impressive jump from 18th place to ninth with $2.1m. Last weekend, the drama took home Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture Oscars.
The Monuments Men, 3 Days to Kill, Frozen and Ride Along round out the top ten.
The US weekend box office top ten for March 9:
1. (-) 300: Rise of An Empire – $45,050,000
2. (-) Mr. Peabody & Sherman – $32,500,000
3. (1) Non-Stop – $15,378,000
4. (3) The Lego Movie – $11,005,000
5. (2) Son of God – $10,000,000
6. (5) The Monuments Men – $3,100,000
7. (4) 3 Days to Kill – $3,062,000
8. (8) Frozen – $3,010,000
9. (18) 12 Years a Slave – $2,175,000
10. (10) Ride Along – $2,004,000